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Struggling with power struggles and divisions within his troops: Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
It bangs once again duly with the Russian armed forces. When a Russian military blogger announced last Friday that the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces and Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky (54) was about to be sacked and would be replaced by Lieutenant-General Oleg Makarevich, it caused an uproar in military circles.
According to a report by the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), many expressed dissatisfaction with the decision and were confused as to why the Defense Department should replace a Russian-respected colonel general with a ground forces officer with no airborne experience. Especially since Teplinski himself was only appointed last June.
Dismissal due to dispute with Commander-in-Chief Gerasimov
However, several military bloggers now seem to have uncovered the real reason for Teplinsky’s dismissal: a dispute with Valeri Gerasimov (67), the newly appointed supreme commander of Russian troops in Ukraine. Apparently it was about the use of Russian paratroopers in planned offensive operations.
The suggestion that Teplinsky was deposed after a dispute with the General Staff suggests that Teplinsky may have resisted Gerasimov’s desire to use the airborne troops to support operations in the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine, where Russian offensive operations are largely concentrated.
At the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the airborne troops, together with ground troops, were supposed to capture the capital Kyiv, but were repulsed and suffered heavy losses.
Thus, Teplinsky may have resisted using airborne troops for the extremely grueling offensive effort at Bakhmut on the grounds that traditional motorized rifle or armored units would be better suited.
The airborne troops are troops that are usually dropped behind enemy lines to clear the way for their own troops there, to take operationally important terrain points and then to hold them. They are also considered an elite unit and represent a separate branch of the Russian military. They include large units that can be used both by parachute jump and by helicopter. The 45,000 airborne soldiers are held in high esteem by their comrades and are better paid.
Wagner presented himself as an independent army
In addition to Teplinski’s dismissal, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin (70) is currently busy with something else: the Wagner Group. Their mercenaries have now become a key component in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the British Ministry of Defence, the private military company already has a good 50,000 men.
The boss of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigoshin (61) knows how to play this trump card. He has now launched a series of campaigns in which he attempts to portray himself as a self-sacrificing hero of Russia in a crusade against petty and corrupt Russian authorities. According to a report by “Bild”, Wagner would like to stage Wagner as an independent army.
During the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, Prigozhin repeatedly claimed that only his mercenaries would fight against the Ukrainian armed forces in the city. There was no mention of the Russian armed forces.
Putin seems to want to curb Wagner’s influence
These statements annoyed Putin. There are signs of an ever-increasing dispute between Putin and Prigozhin. However, it is his own fault. Because the problem is homemade. Putin and the Wagner Group have worked hand in hand for years. In the meantime, however, Putin no longer seems to have the mercenary troops under control.
According to researchers at the ISW, Putin is therefore trying to curb the influence of Wagner boss Prigozchin. He makes this clear by increasingly siding with the opponents of Wagner boss Prigoschin. Last Wednesday, for example, he met the governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglow (66), an open enemy of Prigozhin, for the first time in a year. In addition, the commander-in-chief on the war front recently appointed by Putin, Valery Gerasimov, is also no friend of the Wagner boss. (ced)